Coin collecting apparatus



April 1936- o. N. GIERTSEN' COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS Filed June 9, 1934 NIH lNl/EN TOR 0. N. 6/5,? TSEN A T-TORNEV Patented Apr. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Bell Telephone Laboratories,

Incorporated,

New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 9, 1934, Serial No. 729,778

3 Claims. (01. 248-309) This invention relates to coin collecting apparatus for use at a telephone pay station and more particularly to an improved type of housing for such apparatus.

One type of housing which has been used fairly extensively in such apparatus is generally disclosed in the O. F. Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,043,219 issued November 5, 1912 and comprises a cast iron back plate to which are attached front and side walls of cast or sheet metal, the back plate being adapted for mounting on a vertical wall of a room or telephone booth. Unscrupulous persons for the purpose of obtaining money collected by such equipment have at times succeeded in prying the entire housing from its support. While it is possible to secure a sufficiently permanent mounting of the housing to its support, a point of weakness will remain in that the cast iron back plate is liable to be broken and render any improved mounting of no avail in preventing such robbery.

This invention has for its principal object the provision of an improved back plate for coin collector housings which will substantially fortify them against removal by unauthorized persons.

Malleable iron offers a quite satisfactory substitute for cast iron for the back plate' of coin collector housings but the first use of a malleable iron back plate was attended with serious difli- 30 culty because the formed plate during the annealing tended to become warped along different planes to such an extent as to prevent the assembly of the telephone apparatus and other walls of the housing thereon. Applicant has found that the preferred solution for overcoming this difficulty does not involve an attempt to prevent any warping whatsoever but is secured by confining substantially all warping which does result from the annealing to a narrow longitudinal strip extending centrally from the top to the bottom of the plate. Such a plate capable of being warped along only one axis requires straightening in only one plane which is a relatively simple and inexpensive step as compared with the straightening of a. plate which is warped to a substantial degree in different directions. This desired result is preferably attained by providing longitudinal and transverse reinforcing ribs on the external face of the plate except in a narrow longitudinal strip extending centrally from the top to the bottom of the plate. This narrow strip which is left without any reinforcing means offers a minimum resistance to warping and it has been found that with the construction described any warping resulting from annealing will be confined along an axis lying within this non-reinforced strip and that there will be no substantial warping along any axis at an angle to said strip. Any warping which does occur along the longitudinal axis, being uniform, may be readily removed in any convenient manner to adapt the plate for use with other standard parts for completing the coin collector housing.

A more detailed description of the invention follows and is illustrated in the attached drawing wherein Fig. 1 represents a telephone coin collector housing of a type which may embody a rear wall reinforced in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a View of the externalface of the rear wall of the housing of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the plate of Fig. 2 taken along the line 3-3. 1

As previously stated, telephone pay station housings usually comprise a metallic back plate to which are attached front and side walls of' cast or sheet metal, the back plate being adapted for mounting on a vertical wall of a room or booth. Referring to Fig. 1, the'main portion 5 of the coin collector housing has a rear wall which is shown separated from the cover 5 for illustrative purposes. A preferred way of mounting such a collector is to first fasten a wall mounting plate I to the wall of the room or booth, fasten a back plate 6 to the mounting plate I and then fasten the cover 5 to the back plate. Fig. 2 shows the external face of a'back plate 6 constructed in accordance with the preferred form of this invention. This external face has a flange 8 extending around the periphery of the plate except for the short gaps 9 and IE1 at the top and bottom. The plate has a plurality of longitudinal reinforcing ribs II and a plurality of transverse reinforcing ribs l2 distributed throughout the rear face of the plate to provide suitable reinforcement thereof except for a narrow strip [3 running lengthwise of the plate between gaps 9 and I0 and defined on either side by one of the ribs II. This strip l3 has no reinforcing means and has an average thickness substantially the same as the rest of the plate in the regions between the reinforcing ribs.

Such a plate is preferably made of malleable iron which may be annealed in any suitable manner after fabrication. The longitudinal ribs should be of such dimensions as to prevent any substantial warping of the plate about any trans verse axis during the annealing process. The two separated regions having the transverse ribs will likewise be substantially free of any warping about a longitudinal axis lying within said regions but because of the absence of any reinforcement in the central portion of the plate, warping during annealing will frequently occur about a longitudinal axis lying within the strip [3. That is, plate 6 is suitably reinforced against warping except along strip I3 so that the plate is capable of being warped along only one axis and hence any straightening necessary after annealing is substantially confined to only one plane, a relativelysimple and inexpensive step compared with the straightening of a plate which is warped to a substantial degree in different directions. Such a plate as just described can be mounted more efficiently and economically than if the plate were reinforced throughout in an attempt to prevent any warping whatsoever during annealing.

The plate 6 may be securely fastened to the steel back board I in a suitable manner. The plate 6 is shown as having six key slot holes 15 adapted to register with rivets IS in the back board I and also has five holes I! for securing the two plates 6 and I together by means of flat head screws. Other suitable means may be employed for securing the front part 5 of the housing to its rear wall 6.

It, therefore, will be seen that this invention provides in its preferred embodiment a coin collector back plate of malleable iron or other material which, during cooling, will not be subjected to indiscriminate warping but will have any warping resulting from the annealing limited in such a manner as to require a minimum of subsequent straightening before employing the plate in a coin collector assembly.

What is claimed is:

l. A telephone coin collector housing having an annealed malleable iron back plate, one face of said plate having a reinforcing rib extending substantially the entire length of said plate, said plate having a second reinforcing rib spaced from and parallel with said first rib and extending substantially the entire length of said plate, said ribs being spaced from the edge portions of said plate parallel to said ribs, a plurality of spaced transverse reinforcing ribs extending from each of said longitudinal ribs to the outer edge of said plate, said face in the region between said longitudinal ribs and between the top and bottom edges of said plate being. of substantially uniform thickness and free from any reinforcing ribs.

2. A malleable iron plate for the rear wall of a telephone pay station housing, said plate having a length greater than its width, a longitudinal strip of said plate centrally located with respect to the side edges of said plate and extending the full length of said plate being of substantially uniform thickness, two spaced longitudinal reinforcing ribs on the external face of said plate extending between the top and bottom edges of said plate and defining the width of said strip, the periphery of the external face of said plate being flanged except for portions of the bottom and top edges centrally located with respect to the side edges of said plate, a plurality of spaced transverse reinforcing ribs on said face extending between each of said longitudinal ribs and the adjacent side edge of said plate, said face in the region between said longitudinal ribs being substantially free of any reinforcing ribs.

3. A malleable iron plate for the rear wall of a telephone pay station housing, said plate having a length greater than its width, a longitudinal strip of said plate centrally located with respect to the side edges of said plate and extending the full length of said plate being of substantially uniform thickness, two spaced longitudinal reinforcing ribs on the external face of said plate extending between the top and bottom edges of said plate and defining the width of said strip, a purality of spaced transverse reinforcing ribs on said face extending between each of said longitudinal ribs and the adjacent side edge of said plate, said face in the region between said longitudinal ribs being substantially free of any reinforcing ribs.

OYVIND N. GIERTSEN. 

